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A More 

Oomf)re]iensive r orest Policy 

r or JVlinnesota 



By Wm. T. Cox 




I' ire r ijjhtint; Crew, Trenolung alieucl of a Firi? 

In a similar way nundreds ol forest lires are put ovit every year 



MINNESOTA FOREST SERVICE 



ocr 



30 1919 









A More Comf)renensive Forest 
Policy For JVLinnesota 



Wm. T. Cox 



Minnesota needs a more definite forest policy. The lives of our citizens 
are in need of better protection. Our native forests cry out for the oppor- 
tunity to exist and produce, to protect and beautify. Our waste lands call 
for planting and our prairies for the shelter of trees. 

One-half the area of Minnesota is devoted to tree growth, and forestry 
ranks second among the great industries of the state. Besides the lumber, 
the pulpwood, the millions of ties and other timber products produced our 
forests make usable the great _ water powers and the navigable streams. 
They make liveable our lakes for myriads of fish, they aft'ord a home for 
game and fur bearing animals which otherwise must perish. They give 
the touch of beauty to our hills and lakes which in the near future means 
a million tourists a year. 

We have abused our forests while other countries were building up 
theirs. We are cutting our timber far faster than it is being produced, and 
yet there is an increasing need for timber products. It is time to wake up 
before we are dependent on other countries. 

The well managed forests of France and Belgium saved those countries 
and civilization from the onslaught of the Hun. Ask any man who fought 
on that awful western front during 1916, 1917 and 1918. 

One of our fundamental difliculties is a wrong system of taxation. 
This needs revision. Put a nominal tax on the land devoted to tree growth, 
then tax the timber when cut. This will give some incentive for taking 
care of such property. Young or half grown timber is not valued by 
owners now. 

Patrol by rangers is the approved method used in all countries where 
forests are given real protection. Other measures are helpful, but without 
systematic patrol of the woods — at least one man to every four to six 
townships, all other measures are of little use in reducing the danger of 
forest fires. Hundreds of forest fires were put out last year by the rangers 
or through their efforts. How many more were prevented nobody knows. 

We have asked each session since 1911 for means to provide a woods- 
man to patrol each six townships in the coniferous forest region. This 
man to work for the state and see that the townships, the railroads and the 



timber operators do their part, which is a much larger one. $150,000 a 
year was asked until last year, when owing to higher wages and greater 
danger resulting from ditching and increased settlement, $330,000 was 
asked. It is not our place to say how this sum be raised, but we do know- 
that it is needed to protect from forest fires more than 250,000 people and 
a billion dollars worth of property. DifTerent countries and states raise 
money in diflerent ways for fire prevention. Some states assume tlie entire 
burden, others tax the land a cent or so an acre in the districts directly 
benefited; still others tax the timber output to raise a protection fund. 

Minnesota has been bearing a part of the cost of patrol, the railroads, 
the townships and the timber operators liave borne another part, and the 
timber operators have in addition borne the cost of slasli disposal, wliich 
owing to shortage of men to enforce orders, has not always been well done. 




Pine timber cut under forestry rules — young trees left for further growth; 

slash all burned 



The legislature, if it would provide ade(iuately against the occurrence 
of forest fires and preserve our forests and increase their productiveness in 
the future, might then consider the following measures: 

1. Tax land separately from growing timber and tax the timber when 
cut. 

2. Provide money enough in some way to enable the Forest Service 
to liave one man patroling, during the dry season from April to November, 
for every four townships of wooded country, and enough superior officers 
for efficient supervision, — half the field force to be retained through the 
winter to enforce slash disposal and supervise work on state forests. There 
are two thousand logging camps where slash disposal needs enforcement 
in addition to thousands of settlers making small clearings. Raise maximum 
for permanent central organization, needed for supervision in proportion 



to increase in field expenditure. Tlie present low maximum for this pur- 
pose is a serious handicap to obtaining greatest efTiciency of the field force. 

3. Appropriate ft3(),()00 for the construction of telephone lines where 
most needed for fire protection. 

4. Appropriate -SI 00,0(10 for clearing up areas of very dangerous blow- 
downs, crews to work under the direction of experienced rangers. Other- 
wise more harm than good might follow. 

5. Grant greater authority to Forester with regard to railroad fire 
prevention, e. g., putting out of service engines which are particularly 
dangerous. 




A scene repeated many times in the fires of October, 1918 



6. Encourage by some kind of legislation the grazing of live stock in 
the wooded portions of the state. Sheep in particular render the woods 
comparatively safe from fire, and are a great aid to fire control. 

7. Reserve all areas of state owned pulpwood timber and areas of half 
grown pine and other timber of commercial varieties, irrespective of what 
kind of soil it may be on. Reserve also all state owned land that will bring 
better returns in forest than in poor pasture and farms. Plant to spruce and 
pine portions of such lands now barren. 

8. Purchase at reasonable prices private lands now bearing natural 
stands of promising young timber. The state will profit greatly by holding 
and protecting it the comparatively short time it will take to mature. 



9. Purchase at a nominal price all 3rd and 4th chiss land whether 
hearing young trees or not. Plant if necessary. 

Or, if a delinquent tax law can be framed that will really work in this 
state, obtain such lands by that means. It has been the practice to pass acts 
from time to time permitting payment of back taxes at fifty cents on the 
dollar, thus putting a premiimi on delinquency and never getting title to 
the land so it could be put to useful purpose. It may be necessary to tax 
mineral rights separately from surface rights to have a workable delin- 
(|uent tax. 

10. Make provision for the practice of forestry on all lands reserved 
or bought for state forests. This will help to make permanent settlements 
which otherwise must be temporary and continue an industry which means 
much to the prosperity of agriculture and manufacturing throughout the 
state. 

11. Make inducements for the retention or planting of woodlots and 
their proper care on farms. Such tracts to contain a good percentage of 
the more valuable kinds of trees. Encourage by practical means the saving 
or planting of shelterbelts around fields to protect against drying winds 
and the spread of noxious weeds. 

12. Encourage the establishment of the smaller wood using industries 
so that logging and land clearing where done will not be so expensive or 
so wasteful of timber products. 

13. Provide for the construction of a road from Crane Lake through 
Ely to Lake Superior, the state to pay half the cost and the U. S. Govern- 
ment the other half. Such road is badly needed as a fire protective measure. 

14. Memorialize Congress to increase the cooperative fire protection 
fund from $100,000 to $600,000 so that Minnesota will get about $50,000 a 
year under the "Weeks Law," instead of $8,000. 

15. Memorialize Congress and the Navy Department to establish a 
training station at Duluth where men may be trained in the use of hydro- 
aeroplanes and, as part of their training, patrol the northeastern portion 
of this state to locate fires which may be burning in the woods and lake 
country. 

16. Provide a closed season on burning except under permit from an 
authorized officer. 

17. Provide a building at the State Fair Grounds to exhibit forestry 
work, including forest products and logging and wood-working machinery. 



LIERfiRV OF CONGRESS 



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o«py OF CONGRESS 



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